Interactive cardiovascular and thoracic surgery
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Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Dec 2003
Towards evidence-based medicine in cardiothoracic surgery: best BETS.
Cardiothoracic surgeons are faced with the dilemma that many clinical questions in their daily practice to do not have universally agreed answers, but patients increasingly demand the 'best practice' from their doctors. In addition time pressures mean that clinicians are unable to keep up with the full spectrum of published research and current resources that collate evidence for clinicians have few if any resources for cardiothoracic surgeons. We have adopted an approach pioneered in emergency medicine, namely the Best Evidence Topic or BestBET. ⋯ To add confidence to the quality of the search a second author and then an Evidence Based Journal Club checks the BET to ensure that no relevant evidence is missed. These BETs will then be posted on the ICVTS website prior to publication for widespread commentary. The resulting BETs, written by practising cardiothoracic surgeons, will then provide robust evidence-based answers to important clinical questions asked during our daily practice.
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Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Dec 2003
Evaluation of a new temperature management system during off-pump coronary artery bypass.
We evaluated the performance of a new temperature management system (Arctic Sun, Medivance, Inc.) in maintaining normothermia during off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB). ⋯ The Arctic Sun system significantly outperformed conventional techniques in achieving and maintaining normothermia during off-pump coronary artery bypass.
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Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Dec 2003
Successful surgical treatment of a right atrial myxoma complicated by pulmonary embolism.
We report on a rare case of a 65-year-old woman who was admitted with orthopnea (NYHA class IV) and a single syncopal episode. A transthoracic echocardiography examination showed a 7x6x6-cm mass located in the right atrium and perfusion lung scan showed embolization. ⋯ Six months clinical and echocardiographical follow-up showed a satisfactory exercise tolerance, a normal right atrium and a good ventricular function. Thirteen years later, the patient remains well and no recurrence could be observed.